Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir

As a young woman, Leah Penn-Leith fell hopelessly in love with Captain Fox Carnegie-the only irrational mark on her decidedly sensible life. Fox, unfortunately, did not return her regard.Their story should have ended there. After all, Fox left for India. And Leah returned home to Scotland to rear her much younger brothers.But twenty years later, Fox appears on Leah's doorstep-older, scarred, and world-weary-proposing a marriage of convenience between them. He needs a mother for his young ward, and Leah, with her capable good sense, comes highly recommended. What woman could say No to such a proposal? Not Leah. Fox has always wreaked havoc on her ability to think rationally.After their marriage, Leah confronts the chaotic reality of Fox's life. His castle, ten miles up a rugged Highland glen, is shambolic. His ward, Madeline, is a precocious handful. Fox's time in India is shrouded in rumor and mystery. Worst of all, Fox himself is distant and broken, his personality as altered as his scarred body.Throughout it all, Leah is left with two questions: What happens to a woman after her most-cherished fantasy comes true? And can a marriage, begun in practicality, transform into something deeper? Something like . . . love.

Viola Brodure, gentlewoman and celebrated authoress, faces a personal dilemma suited for a novel-everyone wishes for her to make a love match with Ethan Penn-Leith, the famous Highland Poet. And by everyone, she means everyone-her father, her adoring readers, the gossip columnists, and her patron, the overbearing Duke of Kendall. Why, even Queen Victoria herself has given a nod of approval to the match. After all, the popular novelist and the famous poet are the perfect heroine and hero for their own love story. A literary dynasty waiting to be born.The problem, of course, is that Viola has never met Ethan, not in the flesh, at least. She has read about him and devoured his poetic writings, but does the man himself live up to his dashing reputation?Malcolm Penn-Leith exists in twilight. He manages his farm, Thistle Muir, in the shadow of the Scottish Highlands. As the older brother of the renowned Ethan Penn-Leith, Malcolm tends to his prized cows while Ethan basks in the limelight. Harder still, Malcolm lives under a cloud of grief after the death of his wife five years ago.But then Miss Viola Brodure arrives in Malcolm's wee village, intent on meeting Ethan and beginning a courtship. Viola-petite, blond, shy, and English-is nothing like Malcolm's late wife. And yet, Viola awakens a piece of his heart that he thought lost in the abyss of his grief.For her part, Viola is surprised to find herself more attracted to the stoic Malcolm than the charming Ethan. So now what? She isn't meant to fall in love with the man adjacent to Ethan Penn-Leith. That's not the plot she had outlined. After all, Malcolm and Viola are not the match made in heaven that everyone wishes to see. As social pressures mount, can Malcolm and Viola overcome the weight of his past and the expectations of her future to forge a new path together?Please note that the basic elements of this story first appeared in a novella entitled A Ring of Gold. This current novel is a greatly-expanded adaptation of that novella.